Parks & Recreation

[From my July 1 article in the Colchester Bulletin]

Today officially kicks off the 25th anniversary of National Park and Recreation Month, which has been celebrated across the country each July since its inception in 1985. This year’s theme is “Celebrate, Advocate, Recreate!” and I believe that each of those actions is critical, perhaps now more than ever.

With unprecedented budget shortfalls across the country, regular budget “trimming” has turned into massive cutting of entire programs and services. Often, the brunt of these cuts has been taken by parks at the local, county and state levels. The stories of entire park systems being shut down and crucial services being eliminated abound. From New York to Iowa to California, massive numbers of state parks are being closed. Here in Connecticut we were spared a major increase in park entrance fees just prior to their implementation due to the hard work of many concerned citizens.

The irony of the situation is that it is during times like these that our parks are the most vital. Just when families can least afford to travel to exotic or remote locations to experience and enjoy nature, their local public spaces are locking the gates and closing up shop. Luckily, there is a renewed national movement to save parks and conserve open space.

In April, President Obama convened a meeting of stakeholders on the issue, bringing together parks and recreation professionals, government leaders, and numerous other experts to begin the development of a far reaching plan to address conservation. With the last such effort occurring over 100 years ago during Teddy Roosevelt’s presidency, it was long overdue.

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An integral part of the process will be a series of “listening and learning sessions” held across the country, with high level administrators from the government on hand to take note of what our citizens have to say. While the schedule and locations of these sessions is still in development, there are other ways to make your voice heard.

Perhaps the best is to visit the web site developed for this initiative: www.doi.gov/americasgreatoutdoors - the Department of the Interior, which oversees all national parks, is taking the lead on this effort. Aside from finding the schedule of upcoming sessions, you can contribute directly to the conversation by posting your thoughts on the site. To date the site has received thousands of suggestions and comments, which will all eventually be reviewed and considered.

Yet another way to show your support for parks and recreation is to participate in the national “This is how we recreate!” campaign. Coordinated by the National Recreation and Park Association, people are encouraged to print out a copy of the official sign and photograph themselves holding the signs in their favorite parks and during their favorite recreational activities. After posting the pictures anywhere on the internet (such as Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, blogs or any other type of web site), send a link to your photo to july@nrpa.org . Alternatively (or additionally), you can email it to our office, and we’ll post them in our online photo gallery. You can print your own copy of the sign our web page: www.colchesterct.gov/parks .

Here in Colchester, on Thursday, July 8 Congressman Joe Courtney will be joining us to help spotlight the importance of parks. He will be visiting our Colchester Recreation Complex that afternoon, where he will experience the vitality of this wonderful resource. Along with a tour of the park, the Congressman will be treated to a special presentation by our summer day camp. We encourage the entire community to come out to help us celebrate at 3pm that afternoon.

July is your month, Colchester! Let’s make the most of it!